Cooling system



May 20, 1958 Filed July 30, 1956 E. w. LEATHERMAN 2,835,185

COOLING SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. EARL W. LEATHERMAN ATTORNEY May 20, 1958 Filed July 30, 1956 E. W. LEATHERMAN COOLING SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5

INVENTOR EARL w. LEATHERM'AN ATTORNEY Unite States Patent Ofiiice 2,835,185 Patented May 20, 1958 This invention relates to a cooling system. The systern maybe used for cooling a liquid or any enclosed space such as a building, tent, or refrigerator, etc.; or for cooling both a liquid and an enclosed space. It may be used for industrial or other uses as, for example, the manufacture of ice, etc.

The cooling system may be formed of a chimney-like structure. This may be added to the side or end of a building, or it may be built integrally into a building. Alternatively, it may be built without any particular enclosure. For example, it may be built into an industrial unit where the cooling is to be effected. It may be located in any desirable place.

The cooling is eifected by the evaporation of water or other cooling liquid from lengths of porous cooling units located substantially horizontally on dilferent levels, either directly above another or staggered. The units are connected with overflow means in the form of goosenecks which deliver the cooling liquid from each unit to the unit below it.

The units are lengths of pipe, or their equivalent, built with porous walls. These units may be made of burned clay such as is used for drainage tile. The porosity of the tile may be increased by mixing finely divided combustible material such as sawdust or carbon particles with the claylbefore it is fashioned into the unit and then burning away or charring this combustible material when the clay is fired. Other clay may be made into porous units by the similar addition and combustion of combustible material. Ordinarily the clay will be extruded as cylindrical pipe or tile. The ends of such extruded units will be closed with suitable caps which are preferably also porous. They may be cemented to the ends of the extruded units with water-proof cement.

Although ceramic units are preferred, the units may be formed of powdered metal such as is currently being used in the production of so-called Oilite bearings. The powdered metal is compressed and sintered under proper pressure to give the required porosity. Under market conditions such construction would be expensive.

The amount of water which permeates a structure of any given porosity depends upon the head of water within the structure. If the porous units here under consideration are of the same porosity throughout, more water will permeate through the bottom portion of the unit than through the top portion of the unit due to the difference in the hydrostatic heads of the water at the top and bottom of the interior of the unit. In order to operate most efliciently, the top of the unit is placed under a head of Water by providing a gooseneck overflow which connects with either its top or bottom and leads the overflow liquid to the unit below it. This gooseneck may be made of the same or a different porous composition. It

the gooseneck is of non-porous material it is desirable to provide valve means-such as a petcock at the highest point ofjthe gooseneck, in order that air may be removed from the system from time to time as required, in order to prevent an air lock which would interfere with the proper flow of water through the system. A small opening at the top of the bend may be used instead of a valve.

Since the amount of water that permeates through the wall of a unit depends upon the head of water within the unit, the most efiicient unit is a substantially horizontal unit. Generally each unit will be several feet in length. The smaller the cross section of the unit the greater the ratio of the exposed surface to the cross section, and the greater the ratio of the amount of the water that permeates the walls to the amount of the water which flows through a unit. Thus the units, it round, will usually be no more than a few inches in diameter. Units of square cross section and of other cross sections may be employed.

Uni-ts may be utilized which are manufactured from bottom portions of less porosity and top portions of greater porosity. Usually the earthenware units will be extruded. Metallic units will be fabricated by any suitable procedure.

To a large extent, the head of water within the unit depends upon the length of the gooseneck. Goosenecks which provide an overflow from the top of the unit are more effective than goosenecks of the same length connected with the bottom of the unit. Usually the gooseneck will be six or more, and preferably up to eight or' tenor more inches in height. The cross-sectional area of the gooseneck may be relatively small compared with the cross section of the unit. Thus the gooseneck need be no more than one-half inch in inside diameter, or may even be smaller.

The gooseneck may be composed of the same material as the unit, but ordinarily plastic or rubber hose or pipe will be found less expensive and entirely satisfactory. Metal goosenecks may be employed. The term gooseneck is used loosely herein, because the overflows so designated may have any desired cross-sectional shape and the outline may be varied, it only being necessary that the gooseneck give height to the overflow in order to produce hydrostatic pressure in the liquid at the top for special purposes, as in various manufacturing proces ses. One such process is the manufacture of ice. If some suitable volatile liquid such as a Freon is added to the water used in such a system, the rate of evaporation of the cooling liquid is increased with consequent increase in the rate of cooling. Other low-boiling liquids may be added to the water instead of Freon, or such liquids may be used in the absence of water. i

The cooling effect is noticed in two dilferent resultants. In the first place, the residual liquid drawn from the bottom of the cooling system is much colder than it was when it entered the system, and its temperature may be reduced to zero or below. Such liquid may, for example, be used for the manufacture of ice, etc. Alternatively, it may be run through a household refrigerator or the refriger-ating coils in some industrial unit such as the refrigerator in a meat market or packing house, etc.

In the second place, the coils must be exposed to the atmosphere or to a current of air or other gas which passes over them in order to hasten the evaporation of the solvent, and this air or other gas is cooled. In a premay be used in the cooling of a building, or for cooling a tent or other enclosure, or for cooling a piece of equip ment, etc.

temperature.

The rate of cooling will depend upon the original moisture content and temperature of the air and the rate at which the air is circulated over the surface of the units. It will also depend upon the porosity of the units, the nature of the cooling liquid circulated within the units, and the height of the hydrostatic head provided by the liquid in each unit. In a hot, dry climate the air which is led over the cooling units will evaporate the moisture from the surface of the cooling units much faster than where the surrounding atmosphere is at alower The rate of evaporation controls the rate at which the liquid is cooled within the system as well as the rate at which the surrounding atmosphere is cooled.

If a cooling liquid other than water is employed in the cooling systemit is usually necessary that the system be'enclosed and that the vapors of the cooling liquid be recovered, as by condensation.

The invention will be further described. in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a. house equipped with a cooling system;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the house and the cooling-unit, on the line 2-2 of- Fig. l, with most of the enclosing wall of the unit and the side wall of the house broken away;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the house and cooling unit,

on the line 3-3 of Fig. l, with most of the enclosing wall broken away;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view of the cooling unit with the enclosing wall and a part of one of the horizontal units broken away; and

Fig. 5 is an end view of a section of the cooling unit and house structure, on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, with a part of the walls of the enclosure and the house broken away.

Figure l is the end view of a one-story house with the coolingsystem located in the chimney 5 built exteriorly ofthe. end ofthe house. A house of two or more stories may similarly be equipped with a chimney which extends thewhole height of the house.

There are screened openiugs'o at the top of the chimney which serve as air inlets. The chimney extends a considerable distance above the roof, to provide adequate cooling of the air, such as that used in the attic, or in the upper stories of a; multiple-story house, or under the ceiling. of a one-story house. The chimney may be built inside the end wall of the house, or it may be located relatively centrally of. the house.

The. chimney is relatively narrow, the space between the outside. wall 8' and the inside wall 9 being little more than. enough to accommodate the cooling units. These may be located directly over one another, or may be ofisetas shown in Fig. 2. The end walls 10 and 11 of the cooling unit are outside walls in the embodiment'of the invention illustrated in the drawings, and there are novent' openings. in these. The opening 15 in the wall 9 conducts cold air over the uninsulated attic floor 16, and to facilitate the circulation of air within the attic a vent opening 17 (Fig. 3) is provided to circulate this cooled air from the attic to the room directly below it. Alternatively, the used air, after passing over the attic floor may mingle with the other air in the attic, and escape through any possible outlet.

The opening 19 vents cool air from the chimney into the ground-floor room near the ceiling. The drawings illustrate a further vent opening 20 into the same room just above the floor level. To facilitate circulation there is.a vent 21- from the room to the outer atmosphere just above the floor level, across the room from the openings 19 and 20. Openings will be provided in the chimney as required, to provide the necessary cooling, and other openings will be used to cause the cool air to circulate through the building. Blowers may be utilized, but when the air circulating means is properly designed, no powered circulation means will be required.

The exact structure of the individual units is optional. Extruded units will ordinarily be preferred, and usually these will be cylindrical. The drawings illustrate extruded ceramic units 25 to which caps 27 are cemented. Both the units and the caps are porous. These are arranged substantially horizontally at different levels and supported by the joists 29.

Goosenecks 30 connect the top of each unit with the unit below it. These may be porous but this is not necessary. Liquid flowing into one unit from the unit above it will iill the unit and the overflow will rise to the bend in the gooseneck and thence drain to the unit below it. The petcocks 32 are open to prevent the goosenecks from becoming siphons. tom of the upper bend of the gooseneck determines the hydrostatic pressure on the liquid in the unit. The bend willbe a greater or less distance above the top of the liquid in the unit, depending upon the porosity of the unit, the number of units, the rate of liquid flow through the units, and the cooling effect desired.

By providing a plurality of identical units, the hydrostatic pressure of the liquid against the porous surface and the permeation of the liquid through the walls is maintained substantially uniform in all of them, whereas, if only one tall cooling unit were provided the pressure at the bottom of the unit would be much greater than at the top, and the liquid would permeate the bottom much more rapidly than the top.

In operation, water from the house circuit is fed through the pipe 35 into the top unit, and from there is led in steps through each of the other units. The air enters through the vent openings 6 at the top of the chimney. On cooling it contracts and the resulting increase in its density causes it to flow downward through the chimney. As the air flows over the units it facilitates the evaporation of liquid from their surfaces. The liquid content of the air is relatively small at the topof the chimney and gets increasingly greater as the air flows down through the chimney. Thus, the rate of evaporation from the top unit is greatest, and becomes suc- I cessively less toward the bottom unit. In the arrangement shown, all of the liquid flows through each of the units. Some of the liquid from the pipe 35 might be by-passed into one or more of the lower units so as to lessen the amount of liquid which must traverse the top is sufiicient to provide adequate flow through the lower units and out of the bottom unit through the pipe 37, in spite of the fact that some liquid is lost in each unit, by evaporation from the walls. If there is no need for the cooling liquid that is obtained, it is not necessary to have any outflow through the outlet 37, but evaporation of all the water would produce objectionable sedimentation in the lower units. Such controlled operation would be feasible only when pure distillate is used as the cooling liquid.

When water or the like is used as the cooling liquid, scale may form on the outside surfaces from which the evaporation occurs. This will not interfere with the permeation of further liquid through the pipe, etc. where capillaries remain open through the scale. Deposits similar to stalactites may form; and this will of course increase the cooling surface, and thus increase the cooling rate. Such deposits may be removed from time to time, as necessary, with dilute acetic acid or other acid or chemical, or by any other suitable means.

The drawings illustrate the adaptation of the invention to the cooling of a building. Here the liquid from the outlet pipe 37 may pass to a refrigerator or be forced through cooling coils in one or more of the rooms, etc. Alternatively, it may be emptied directly into a sewer.

The drawings are illustrative.

The height of the b0t- The arrangement andv connection of the units, as well as their composition.

and porosity, and their location in a building or other installation may be altered to suit the requirements of each particular operation.

The invention is defined in the claims.

What I claim is:

l. A cooling system which comprises an enclosure with an opening for the inflow of air near the top thereof and an opening for the outflow of air near the bottom thereof, having therein a plurality of closed evaporating units located substantially horizontally at different levels with a gooseneck overflow for liquid from each unit to the unit below it, at least a substantial portion of the containing wall of each unit being permeable to liquid, each gooseneck extending to a level above the top of the unit from which it conducts the overflow and having an opening near its top, and means for supplying evaporable liquid to the top unit.

2. A house with a chimney-type enclosure, a plurality of closed liquid-permeable cooling units located at different levels in the cooling unit, gooseneck overflow means extending above the top of each unit and connecting it with the unit below it, means for supplying evaporable liquid to the top unit, an air inlet at the top of the enclosure and at least one outlet in the enclosure which outlet is located immediately below the ceiling of a roomin the house, with an opening near the top of each gooseneck.

3. A cooling system which includes a duct, located in the duct each at a ditlerent level a plurality of closed cooling units each formed with an extruded liquidpermeable ceramic body which is located substantially horizontally in the duct, overflow means rising from each higher unit and connecting it with a lower unit in which overflow means the liquid level is thereby adapted to be maintained substantially above the level of the liquid in 35 1,133,371

said higher unit, an opening near the top of the overflow means and above the liquid level therein, means for introducing evaporable liquid into the top unit and conveying it from the bottom unit, and an air inlet at the top of the duct with air outlets below the air inlet whereby the air fiows around and between the cooling units in passing down through the duct and thereby facilitates the evaporation of liquid from the permeable walls of the respective units.

4. A cooling structure which comprises a chimney-like enclosure having an air inlet near the top and air outlets at different levels below the top, a series of closed porous pipe sections located substantially horizontally within the enclosure parallel to each other and disposed one above the other forming a columnar arrangement throughout the height of the structure, means for introducing a liquid into the topmost pipe section, an overflow tube in the form of a gooseneck connecting each higher pipe section with a lower pipe section with the height of the respective goosenecks above the top of each of said higher pipe sections, with an opening near the top of each gooseneck, means conveying the overflow from the bottom pipe section away from the system, whereby air entering the top of the enclosure is cooled and flows down through the enclosure and out through the vents and liquid is evaporated from the porous surfaces by such air flow and its temperature is reduced.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 290,483 Schroder Dec. 18, 1883 319,374 Wingrove June 2, 1885 493,156 Fitzgerald Mar. 7, 1893 Du Commun Mar. 30, 1915 1,949,522. Williams Mar. 6, 1934 

